


Alone, Together

by smjit



Category: Ranma 1/2
Genre: F/F, Fluff, One Shot, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-16
Updated: 2014-06-16
Packaged: 2018-02-04 20:40:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1792498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smjit/pseuds/smjit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ranma is finally out of the picture, at least momentarily. What can Akane and Shampoo do but wait for him? Maybe they'll finally be able to realize their own relationship sans-fiance.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Alone, Together

“Ni hao Ranma!”

Akane stiffened as the dreaded call rang out, instinctively retrieving her mallet from mallet-space and lashing out towards where she thought the Amazonian would be- latched onto Ranma’s back. To her surprise, by the time the heavy wooden weapon connected she noticed too late that Shampoo was nowhere to be seen.

Ranma, obviously on the lookout for his third fiancée, detected Akane’s sudden movement at the last second and managed to block most of the blow, subsequently ending up in outer Nerima rather than outer space.

Akane dropped the mallet.

“Ranmaaa!” She called hopelessly after his quickly vanishing form.

The pig-tailed boy wouldn’t be back for a while. She had channeled all her pent up aggression into that blow, and despite his hasty block it would still be a short train ride or a half hour jog back to the dojo. After she had tried so hard to be nice to him this week too….

Stepping back from the fence her fiancé had been hopping along until a few seconds prior, and into a ready stance, she looked around quickly for the inevitable attack. The streets seemed to be deserted though, Akane and Ranma having stayed behind on classroom chores that day and so most students were at home already.

So where had that call come from?

Her answer emerged in the form of Shampoo stepping guiltily around the corner just ahead of her, megaphone in one hand and delivery box in the other.

“Shampoo!” Akane dropped further into her fighting stance, ready for the forthcoming attack. She had been training particularly hard for the last couple of months and hoped she could at least last long enough to beat an escape, although she no longer held any allusions at being able to best the Amazonian in hand to hand combat.

However, no attack seemed forthcoming. Shampoo merely walked closer at a snail’s pace, box held in front and no bonbouri in sight.

“What do you want, Shampoo?” Akane asked, less certain now as Shampoo moved closer, hips swaying gently and apron moving delicately around her form to accommodate the motion. She relaxed her stance, suddenly unsure. Shampoo merely continued to walk towards her, slowly opening the box and retrieving-

Akane started, jumping backwards and raising her fists as- two bowls of ramen and two sets of chopsticks were removed from the box.

Shampoo changed directions just before collision to sit on the bench beside her. Akane blushed at her own response, shifting uncomfortably from foot to foot. Shampoo was being uncharacteristically quiet, and Akane didn’t trust her. She was probably hatching some plan to do with the megaphone, and Akane half expected Cologne to emerge from behind the bench if she did sit down, and knock her out of the running as Ranma’s fiancé.

Shampoo looked up impatiently through her eyelashes, sweeping her long hair out of her face with the back of her free hand. With the other she offered a still-steaming bowl.

“Well?” She said a little irritably, cheeks lightly flushed and eyes turned elsewhere. “You sit and wait Ranma?”

Akane blushed at the other girl’s question, plopping down on the bench in her surprise. Shampoo tossed her hair again, sending a wave of jasmine scented air towards her and drowning out the noodle smell momentarily. The scent was strangely comforting, despite the person it belonged to, and she took the bowl against her better judgment.

Shampoo began to eat, still quiet, watching the sky.

Akane observed her for a moment, silhouetted in the fading daylight against the bland town backdrop.

Deciding that Shampoo wasn’t exuding any detectable malevolence she cleanly snapped her chopsticks apart and began to eat as well, cursing as despite herself she released a contented sigh after the first bite.

Ranma had raced her to school that morning and beaten her. Of course it was only due to Tatewaki Kuno’s sudden appearance outside the school gates, and the subsequent battle had allowed him to slip past her despite her original substantial lead.

The stakes had been her bento.

Thus, Akane had not eaten since her hurried breakfast that morning. Anger rose in her at the memory, both at Kuno for preventing her victory and Ranma for taking her lunch anyway. He was such a pig!

“Is good, yes?” Shampoo asked, breaking Akane’s train of thought. Looking at the woman beside her she was surprised to see her still flushed. Perhaps she was ill?

“As much as I hate to admit it, yes.” Akane replied, envy tinging her words. With Aunty Nodoka’s help she had been improving, but unsupervised she still reduced the kitchen and its contents to a blackened mess, despite her best intentions. Shampoo placed her empty bowl back in the box, collecting Akane’s at the same time and shutting it with a well-practiced *snk*.

“Shampoo has learned cooking many year. Is not part of regular Amazon training but father very firm she can cook for herself.”

Meal finished she stretched her arms, intertwining her fingers at the top. The action inadvertently tugged the pink silk of her blouse taut against her lithe flesh, a tiny sliver of creamy skin appearing between it and her bottoms. Akane found herself drawn to it, and the unexpected urge to run her fingers along the patch surfaced in her mind.

She tore her gaze to Shampoo’s face, and blushed upon noticing she had already finished stretching and was gazing at her intensely, eyes bright in the early evening light. The flush was still on her cheeks, and if possible it looked a little deeper than before, illuminating freckles on her otherwise flawless skin Akane had never been in the position to notice before.

One on her neck, just below her left ear.

One very, very high on her left cheekbone. Both were usually obscured by thick locks of violet hair, and seeing them in this manner lent an air of closeness to the situation.

“Sh-Shampoo….” Akane started as their faces unconsciously drew closer. Shampoo smiled, a tiny, beatific smile Akane had never seen before, and in the glimmering afternoon light it was the loveliest thing she had ever seen.

The sun began to set, casting golden rays across their faces and drawing gold specks out of the chocolate eyes she currently gazed into. Shampoo responded languidly, drawing the words out of her mouth like water.

“Akane. No like Ranma, never like Ranma. Was only way to get close without Grandmother suspecting.” She moved closer, so close all Akane could see was rich warm irises enclosed by dark lashes. Did she mean she only ever chased Ranma to be close to… Her? Akane’s breath caught in her throat, unsettled by the sudden confession, but at the same time satisfied. She felt a warmth rising up in her chest and spilling out onto her face in the form of a radiant smile, Shampoo’s face lighting up at the movement.

“This smile… Akane feels the same?”

Akane felt tears pricking her eyes, and was startled to find they matched the ones in Shampoo’s. She hiccoughed a little.

“Was there anything in that ramen?” she asked, a little too hopefully Shampoo thought. A frown crossed the Amazonian’s face.

“No, it regular order. Nekohanten probably lose customer for this.”

Akane giggled, Shampoo joining in quickly, and soon the two girls were laughing on the deserted street, looking out into the canal and the last fading rays of the sun. By the time they finally calmed it was dark, and a crescent moon bathed the town in a faint silvery glow, accentuating the deep blue highlights in Akane’s glossy hair.

They looked back at each other almost in unison, Shampoo slipping her fingers into Akane’s and nestling them there. To Akane’s surprise it felt like one of the most natural things in the world, and daringly she leaned gently on the taller girl’s shoulder, head fitting into the space between her head and her shoulder like she was meant to fit there.

A noise shocked her enough to make her lift her head back a little, but soon she realised what it was. A quick glance at Shampoo’s face confirmed her suspicions, the blush having spread down her neck, where the purring was emanating. Akane giggled softly.

“I never knew…” She trailed off expectantly.

“’Love’ Ranma because of duty. Then met Akane… Love because strength and passion. Akane … Unexpected. Should have been Amazonian.” She placed her hand on Akane’s waist, crinkling the uniform shirt as she pulled her closer, other hand tilting her face to her own. Akane allowed the move, eyes huge.

“I think I feel the same.” She breathed. “I wanted to hate you, but I just couldn’t. I am sorry for all the animosity between us.”

Shampoo smiled wistfully again. “Never happened.”

Her hand slowly but inexorably drew Akane’s chin closer, and slowly, but very sweetly, the two joined lips.

Shampoo was so soft Akane felt herself weakening at the knees, and if they weren’t sitting already she would have fallen. As it was Shampoo had to tighten her grip around the other girl to prevent her slipping off the bench.

The kiss was broken almost immediately but the exchange had awoken emotions in Akane and broken down the final barriers for Shampoo. They came back together almost immediately, the kiss growing in passion and intensity but becoming no less sweet despite the lowering inhibitions of both girls.

Time, family, friends, commitments lost all meaning at the joining of their mouths. Akane stroked Shampoo’s lustrous hair, knotting her fingers behind her head and pulling her in deeper. She experimentally darted her tongue along the bottom of Shampoo’s lip and was rewarded with a feline growl, restraint ignored as Shampoo finally relinquished her iron-clad discipline in the fulfillment of her utmost happiness.

A grunt in front of them slammed the barricades back down and they sprang apart, Shampoo drawing her bonbouri seemingly from nowhere while Akane did the same with her mallet. They faced the intruder with a rage incomparable to any their opponent had ever seen before.

Ranma cleared his throat, shrinking down into his shoes at the angry faces of the two most powerful women in his life.

“I just, er, you didn’t make it home? Dad tol me ta come get ya, thought I mucked up somehow…”

Akane blushed, releasing the mallet back into its pocket.

“I’m sorry for hitting you.” She said so softly he had to lean forwards to hear it. When the meaning registered he blanched a little, eyes widening.

“You’re apologizing? I never thought such an uncute tomboy would ever apologi-“

Before he finished a bonbouri smashed into the side of his face like a battering ram, launching him even further, if possible, than he had been only half an hour prior.

“Baka.”

Shampoo looked at her mischievously, a smile playing on her lips.

“We wait for him, yes?”

**Author's Note:**

> I realise they are a little ooc, it was meant to be more of a 'what if' scenario and completely ignores the times Shampoo tried to kill Akane. Yeah. This is a pairing I can't find enough of so here is my own take on it...


End file.
